On Thursday a group of settlers planted dozens of trees in the evacuated settlement of Homesh, west of Nablus, near the Palestinian village of Burqa.

Homesh was the site of an illegal Israeli settlement evacuated in 2005. Settlers have been trying to move back since that time.

Ghassan Daghlas, an expert on settlements in the northern west bank, said dozens of settlers planted trees in different areas of Homesh. He added that settlers distributed pamphlets from the banned Kahane group urging them to plant trees everywhere at a distance of 150 meters between each tree to take over as much land as possible.

A group of Israeli settlers from the illegal West Bank settlement of Shilo demonstrated in front of the home of Rabbis for Human Rights Executive Director Arik Ascherman Wednesday (January 19, 2011) afternoon.

They were demonstrating against Ascherman's plan to plant trees with Palestinians in the West Bank in celebration of the Jewish holiday Tu Bishvat, "the New Year of the Trees."

Bethlehem PNN On Thursday morning around three thousand Israeli settlers stormed farmlands owned by Palestinian villagers near the southern West Bank city of Bethlehem.

Farmers owning the land from Ertas and Wadi Rahal marched up to the lands seized by settlers. Israeli soldiers protecting settlers fired tear gas and assaulted some of the protestors. Troops detained Khalil Abu Sidah, 17, but released him three hours later.

Palestinian journalists said that Israeli soldiers stopped them from covering the incidents. Villagers say that the settlers brought tents with them, indicating that they would try to set up a new settlement outpost.

In related news on Thursday, a group of Israeli settlers planted trees on the site of the evacuated settlement of Homesh in the northern West Bank. In 2005, Homesh was evacuated as part of Israel's 2005 disengagement plan from the northern West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Extremist Jews will exploit a holiday that begins Thursday to expand internationally illegitimate settlements in the occupied West Bank without lifting a finger for construction.

The rightist Israeli Kahane movement announced plans Wednesday to mark Tu Bishvat celebrations by randomly planting 20,000 trees around settlements in the West Bank. The only rule is that trees must be planted at least a hundred meters outside settlements and with at least 150 centimeters between each tree.

French press quoted an anti-settlement source as saying: "They are not only planting trees but are trying gain land. Instead of homes they are using agriculture."

Meir Bertlar, an organizer of the plan, said: "The idea is not to plant inside the settlements or outposts but outside. That is so we seize outlying land and tighten Jewish grip on it and stop Arabs from taking over. We will not give lands to our enemies based on various agreements."

French press quoted Livi Shazin, a leading figure in the participating Chassidai Meir movement, as saying: "There are many objectives. One is to expand settlements in the West Bank."

"If we plant more trees we take over more land for the Jewish people," he said.

A settler shot a pregnant 16-year-old girl twice in the foot on Saturday near an illegal Israeli settlement in the West Bank city of Hebron, medics said.

Summer Rabi Jaber, six months pregnant, was transferred to the Hebron Government Hospital with two bullet wounds in her foot. Doctors said she was referred to the Al-Mizan Hospital, which would be better able to monitor the effect of the incident on the fetus.

Jaber is from the Al-Baq'a area east of Hebron, and according to medics was shot by a resident of the illegal Kiryat Ar'ba settlement.

An Israeli newspaper reported Friday that the Israeli army would collect weapons from settlers in the West Bank, due to the "prevailing calm" and out of fear they would be used against Palestinians.

The Israeli daily Yediot Aharonot said the military directive had already been passed on to security officers in settlements in and around Hebron.

According to the report, the improved security situation in the West Bank and the growing number of thefts of weapons contributed to the decision.

But it was also taken over concerns about settlers taking the law into their own hands and shooting any Palestinians they perceive as a threat, the paper said, without citing a source.

Dozens of armed extremist Jewish settlers under military protection stormed Attof village near Tamun town in Tubas province on Saturday morning.

Eyewitnesses said the armed settlers were carrying maps, cameras and surveying instruments and carried out a land survey which raised doubts about their intents to annex more Palestinian lands to their nearby settlements.

Farmers said the soil in their village is very fertile and arable and has been used for growing rainfed crops for a long time.

The Israeli occupation authority (IOA) prevents the villagers from digging artesian wells to irrigate their lands claiming that the area is used for military drills, although there is no sign indicating that the area is being used by the military.

Another group of settlers from Rotem settlement in the Jordan Valley region on Friday started to cultivate agricultural lands they illegally seized from Palestinian Bedouins of Farsiya village two weeks ago.

Eyewitnesses said dozens of settlers spread in the village and harassed the Bedouins whose homes were flattened many times before by the Israeli occupation forces.

In a separate incident, a state of extreme anger was prevailing among the Palestinians in Barta'a village behind the segregation wall near Jenin city after Israeli soldiers at a military checkpoint on Friday evening attempted to force women from the village to take off their robes.

The women, who refused to comply, were detained for three hours at the checkpoint before their men came and involved in an altercation with the troops who allowed them later to enter the village without strip searching them.

Hebron Brigade commander orders Jewish residents to return arms received from army in light of relative calm in territories in recent years. 'This isn't Switzerland,' says enraged settler.

The Judea and Samaria Division has decided to collect hundreds of weapons handed to West Bank settlers by the army in light of the relative calm in the territories in recent years, infuriating settlement leaders.

At the start of the al-Aqsa Intifada, more than a decade ago, the settlers received weapons from the army to help defend their communities.

The recent improvement in the security-related situation in the West Bank, alongside a significant increase in weapon thefts in the settlements, has led to a decision to reduce the amount of military weapons available to settlers.

IDF officials have also expressed their fear that settlers may take the law into their own hands and fire at Palestinians approaching the communities' fences.

Hebron's Jewish residents will be the first to be affected by the move.

The security coordinators in Hebron, South Mount Hebron and Kiryat Arba have been instructed by Colonel Guy Hazut, commander of the Judea Brigade, to collect the military weapons from the settlers and hand them over to the army.

'Reckless decision'

The settlers, as expected, are enraged by the new move. "This is a reckless decision which is part of a culture of improvised solutions," a leader of one of the Jewish communities in the area told Yedioth Ahronoth.

"Two weeks before the murder of policeman Shuki Sofer (in June 2010), the Judea Brigade commander said that terror attacks in the area were a matter of the past. We mustn't get confused this isn't Switzerland."

The settlement head rejected the IDF's claim that the move was crucial in light of weapon thefts in the area. "There is no calm where terrorists steal weapons. And anyway, much more weapons are stolen in the IDF, even from the vehicles of senior commanders."

Right-wing activist Itamar Ben-Gvir, who lives in Hebron, slammed Colonel Hazut. "It looks like he believes settlers are only good for serving in the army, but not for protecting themselves. We are being abandoned."

A military source explained that the Judea and Samaria Division planned to collect thousands of weapons from the entire area under its control, and not just from the Hebron area. "We must remember that the past two years have seen a significant calm. Obviously, we'll return the weapons to the residents if needed, but under supervision."

The IDF Spokesperson's Office clarified Thursday that the weapons being collected are not in use and that the move is aimed at fighting weapon thefts and in light of evaluations of the security-related situation.

Jordan Valley PNN On Friday afternoon, Israeli settlers took over
Palestinian owned land in the Jordan Valley on began to farm it.

The lands are owned by farmers from al-Maleh village in the Jordan
Valley. Aref Daraghmeh, head of the village of council, told local media
that the settlers took over 35 dunums of land (a dunum is about a
quarter of acre). The settlers started to plant olive trees on the land,
Daraghmeh reported.

The settlers came last week to the lands
and tried to take them over. Residents say the settlers have been
trying to seize land in the Jordan Valley on a daily basis.

Israeli occupation forces (IOF) served demolition notices to a number of citizens in Jaftalk village in the northern Jordan Valley on Wednesday and told them to leave the area.

Eyewitnesses said that the destruction threat covered six installations including homes and cattle pens, adding that the act fell in line with plans to confiscate the village's land.

Jaftalk villagers live a primitive life as they are deprived of water and electricity services by the Israeli occupation authority, which also prevents them from building forcing the citizens to live in houses made of tin and plastic.

In Nablus district, IOF troops stormed a school south of the city, the school's headmaster reported, adding that a number of settlers were accompanying the IOF.

He said that an IOF armored vehicle rammed into the school's main gate. The soldiers then climbed to its rooftop to protect settlers who were visiting a nearby shrine.

Meanwhile, tens of settlers from the Shilo settlement south of Nablus seized by force 25 dunums of Qaryut village land and blocked villagers from approaching it.

Witnesses said that the settlers ploughed and planted the land under the protection of IOF soldiers on Wednesday.Settlers Attack Northern West Bank Village, Injure Six Farmers Fifty armed Israeli settlers attacked the village of Qassra south of the northern West Bank city of Nablus and injured six civilians on Thursday afternoon.Villagers said that the settlers tried to take over lands owned by local farmers, and clashes erupted when villagers rushed to protect their lands.Reportedly several settlers opened fire at the unarmed civilians, injuring six of them. People responded by throwing stones at the settlers. The Israeli military arrived at the scene and is currently aiding the villagers, local sources reported.At the time of reporting, clashes were still being monitored.Violent confrontations in Palestinian village after settlers' attack

Palestinian citizens confronted dozens of Jewish armed settlers who attacked their village of Qasra, south of Nablus, at noon Thursday, local sources said.

The settlers, who were infuriated after the Israeli army dismantled their outpost, opened indiscriminate fire at the citizens in their homes and work places.

The villagers retaliated throwing stones, the locals said, adding that no casualties were suffered among the citizens.

Qasra is the target of semi daily attacks on the part of extremist Jewish settlers.

Some 300 residents of Arab village arrive at site of demolished outpost; Israelis claim they were ambushed, but leftist activist says settlers to blame.

Three Israelis were lightly wounded on Thursday after they were hit by rocks hurled at them during clashes with Palestinians in the northern West Bank.

The confrontation took place at the site of the recently demolished Eli Ayin outpost, between the settlement of Shiloh and the Palestinian village of Kafr Kusra.

Settler activists who came to the site of the razed outpost were greeted by hundreds of Palestinians, they said. The settlers began calling for help, they said, but were attacked by rocks hurled from every direction.

No Palestinian was injured in the incident.

"Three hundred Palestinians armed with cameras, rocks and batons came over and started walking toward the hilltop," said Guy Kreizler, a resident of a nearby settlement.

"Residents of the hilltop started calling for local security and the army. The army started shooting in the area to disperse them, but the Arabs kept coming forward because they knew nobody would should them," he added. "In the end, they were dispersed by gunshots and tear gas."

Judy Lutz left-wing activist who witnessed the event contradicted Kreizler's version of the story. Residents of Kafr Kusa had called the leftists to complain that the settlers were constantly infiltrating their village, torching their houses and firing in the area.

The Palestinians asked the leftists to assist them, said Lutz. Contrary to the settlers' defense, Lutz said that soldiers began mowing down the Palestinians and shouting obscenities before firing rounds of tear gas.

Fierce clashes erupted between villagers from Qusra, located south Nablus, and armed settlers entering the residential area of the village.

Witnesses said tens of settlers entered the area, setting fire to civilian cars, throwing stones and opening fire on homes.

Three were injured by the settlers, locals said.

Qusra is located near an illegal settlement outpost that was evacuated by the Israeli military the day before.

Settlers have in the past pushed a "price tag" policy, where anger toward the Israeli military for evacuating settlements is directed toward Palestinians living in nearby towns and villages.

The day before, two busloads of Israeli soldiers were seen deployed in the village late Tuesday ahead of the demolition which removed a cement structure, agriculture buildings, and tents in the outpost, which locals said was called Yesh Dam.

Jewish settlers are to expand a housing scheme being built on the site of an historic east Jerusalem hotel which was razed by Israel sparking global anger, a city official said on Thursday.

Councillor Elisha Peleg, of the right-wing Likud party, told AFP developers had filed a planning application for 50 housing units, in addition to the 20 already approved for construction on the site of the Shepherd Hotel.

The Haaretz newspaper, which first reported the development, said the plan was likely be delayed for a long time due to the sensitivity of the site. But Peleg said he was sure the scheme would be approved as it conformed with existing plans for the area.

On Sunday, bulldozers began demolishing the hotel, in occupied east Jerusalem, to make way for the construction of 20 luxury apartments for Jewish settlers, drawing sharp protests from Palestinian, US and EU officials as well as UN chief Ban Ki-moon.

Egypt and Jordan, the only two Arab states that have signed peace treaties with Israel, also warned that the demolition could fuel unrest in the Palestinian territories.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu responded with a statement that the project was undertaken "by private individuals in accordance with Israeli law."

"The Israeli government was not involved," he added.

Israel captured east Jerusalem in the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it in a move the rest of the world never recognized. Israel considers the whole of Jerusalem to be its "eternal and indivisible" capital.

The Palestinians regard east Jerusalem as the capital of their promised state and fiercely oppose any attempts to extend Israeli control over it.

A growing number of hardline Israeli settlers have been moving into the heart of densely populated Palestinian neighbourhoods in east Jerusalem, sparking clashes with local residents.

One flashpoint is in the rundown Silwan district, just outside the Old City walls, where settlers occupy an illegally built seven-story building despite multiple court rulings ordering its evacuation.

On Thursday, press reports said Attorney General Yehuda Weinstein had once again written to Jerusalem's right-wing mayor, Nir Barkat, insisting he obey previous instructions to evict the Silwan settlers and close off the building, known as Beit Yonatan.

"Carrying out the warrant to evacuate and seal Beit Yonatan is an obligation that was determined by the court, which repeated it in a considerable amount of rulings," news website Ynet quoted the letter as saying.

"Weinstein emphasised in his letter that carrying out the order ... is not subject to the mayor's discretion," public radio reported.

The attorney general wrote a similar letter to Barkat in November, demanding that he honor a 2007 eviction order.

Barkat says he is redrafting his master plan for the area and officials have said action is being suspended pending its final approval.

He has baulked at evacuating Beit Yonatan while under pressure to freeze demolition orders on some 200 Palestinian homes built without permits in the same neighborhood.

Violent confrontations were reported south of Nablus city on Wednesday evening between Jewish settlers and Palestinian villagers in Assaira Al-Qabalia village.

Eyewitnesses told the PIC that tens of settlers tried to storm a number of homes and to set fire to those houses and nearby fields but were prevented by Palestinian citizens who rallied to defend their homes and land.

They said that a big number of Israeli occupation soldiers arrived at the scene a few hours later and arrested a Palestinian.

Jewish settlers on Wednesday morning threw stones at Palestinian cars along the Nablus-Ramallah road while heading to their work.

Eyewitnesses told the PIC that the settlers came from the settlement of Shilo and threw stones at any car with Palestinian plates.

In early February a City of Ancestors Race will take place in Hebron with hundreds of runners from throughout Israel, according to the Hebrew-language news site nrg.co.il.

The 10 kilometer competitive race, conducted to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of the nearby colony of Kiryat Arba, will pass by sites such as the Ibrahimi Mosque, the Palestinian market, the Avram Avinu colony in the heart of Hebron and the House of Contention, a Palestinian home that was taken over by settlers who were subsequently evicted from the home by a court order.

Initial settlers came to Kiryat Arba in 1968, although building on an abandoned military base began in 1971. With over 7,200 residents, Kiryat Arba features the Kahane Memorial Park, named for the racist Meir Kahane of the outlawed Israeli political party Kach that advocates expelling Palestinians from the areas under Israeli control. It is also home to the grave of Baruch Goldstein, who killed 29 Palestinians and injured 125 when he opened fire on those praying in the Ibrahim Mosque on 25 February 1994.

The race is sponsored by the Hebron-Kiryat Arba Local Council, the Ministry of Culture and Sport and the commercial site Shvoong, a site that caters to Israeli fans of bicycling, racing and triathlons.

Housing Minister Atias asked to transfer security in the Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem to the Israel Police following fatal shooting of a Silwan resident by a privately employed guard.

Despite warnings from security authorities and Housing Minister Ariel Atias that the use of private security guards in settler compounds in East Jerusalem could have fatal consequences, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has avoided holding discussions on the matter.

Six moths prior to the fatal shooting of a Silwan resident by a privately employed security guard, which stirred demonstrations in East Jerusalem, the officer charged with security at the Housing Ministry, Yitzhak Lehrer, wrote to Atias that "it is my duty to once more warn that the unit of private guards is not prepared for dealing with wide-scale disturbances which include weapons and fire bombs. There are gaps which may result in the breakdown of the system and to the endangering of human lives in the immediate future."

In the letter, a copy of which was relayed by Atias to Netanyahu, Lehrer "wishes, before it is too late, to warn: we must not ignore the seriousness of the incidents; human lives are at risk in a complicated and sensitive setting. Action must be taken before we wake up too late, after a resident or a security guard pay with their lives, or small-scale incidents slip into general rioting, where the extent of the damage will be severe."

Following the demonstrations that broke out following the killing of Silwan resident Samir Sarhan, 32, by a security guard of the Housing Ministry in September, MK Haim Oron (Meretz ) asked Atias to deal with the issue.

"In view of the urgency and sensitivity of the issue, I asked the prime minister to head an emergency meeting in order to evaluate the format for security in East Jerusalem," Atias wrote to Oron.

The housing minister says that since March 2010, some 15 security guards were removed from their position because they were found to be unsuitable to work in the unit. He said that in May alone there were 246 incidents registered by the security guards in their log book, including three in which they had to use firearms because they considered their lives to be in danger.

Atias wrote to Netanyahu that "the writing is spread on the wall and I can do little else but bring it before you over and over."

Ofer Rosenman, who heads Ilit Security, the company which trains the guards for the Housing Ministry, told Haaretz that following the incident "in Silwan there is a vacuum of governance," and claimed that his request for riot dispersal equipment was turned down.

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel asked Atias, after the September incident, to transfer security authority in the Palestinian neighborhoods in East Jerusalem to the Israel Police. A similar recommendation had been made in 2006, by a public committee headed by Major General (res. ) Uri Orr, which the government accepted, but in January 2007 the Olmert government went back on its decision.

In 2010, the Housing Ministry has NIS 54 million in its budget earmarked for private security guards in East Jerusalem.

Israeli settlers uprooted on Friday at least 100 Olive saplings that belong to residents of Qasra village, southeast of the northern West Bank city of Nablus. The settlers collected the cut saplings and fled the scene.

The attacked orchard is located near the village, and belongs to resident Abdul-Raziq Abdullah Odah.

Ghassan Douglas, in charge of settlements file in the northern part of the West Bank, stated that the settlers came from an illegal outpost known an Extra.

On Thursday, the settlers took by force more than 65 Dunams of Palestinian lands that belong to residents of Ein Jaloud village, near Nablus.

Last month, Jewish settlers occupied hundreds of Dunams of Palestinian orchards and fenced several Palestinian orchards.

More than 100 small olive trees were uprooted from outside of Qasra village in the northern West Bank, with villagers saying settlers were behind the vandalism.

Palestinian official in charge of settlement watch in the north Ghassan Daghlas said villagers reported to him seeing several men wearing skullcaps who they identified as settlers, pulling out the young trees on lands belonging to one of the village residents.

Abed Ar-Razeq Daoud Abdllah Auda had planted the field three months earlier, some five dunums of lands, with olive trees. Villagers had gathered to help the farmer, whose lands abut the nearby settlement outpost known as Esta.

Gush Etzion settlers resume battle for Jewish control over Givat Eitam. Efrat official: We expected PM to continue West Bank construction; we got the exact opposite.

Dozens of West Bank settlers arrived at Givat Eitam Friday morning to announce the resumption of the struggle for Jewish control over the area

Givat Eitam is a hilltop is located within the municipal boundaries of the Efrat settlement in Gush Etzion.

The march to the hilltop was organized by the Women in Green organization. The settlers were accompanied by IDF soldiers.

In 2009 the Civil Administration rejected Palestinian appeals for control of the site and determined that the 1,700 dunams (420 acres) are state-owned. The Administration annexed the hilltop to the Efrat Municipality.

Since then, the Housing Ministry drafted a plan for 2,500 housing units at Givat Eitam, but construction has yet to begin, and the settlers claim that Defense Minister Ehud Barak is preventing it for political reasons.

"Of the 1,700 dunams that were annexed to Efrat, 300 (74 acres) are privately owned by Jews, who purchased the land before Israel's inception," said Efrat Deputy Council head Josh Adler. "I do not blame Barak for the fact that there is no construction in the West Bank and Efrat, because we did not expect anything else from him; I blame Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister we voted for. We expected him to continue the construction, and we got the exact opposite. He's even worse than (former Prime Minister Ehud) Olmert."

"We must tell the truth. It was Netanyahu who brought the construction moratorium on us. It did not happen in any other government. Not when Kadima or even Labor were the ruling parties. It's his private invention. He can't blame Barak. Netanyahu is the boss and he calls the shots," Adler said.

Rabbi Baruch Efrati told the marchers, "The torah instructs us to be settlers and defeat any other national entity that settled on this strip of land that was given to us. To observe this mitzvah it is not enough that we march up here and build without the government's authorization, it must be recognized by the Israeli government."

A settler car with five passengers was seen careening toward a group of three school girls on their way to school in the northern Jericho governorate on Thursday.

Headmistress of the An-Nuwei'ma Girls School, in the village where the girls live, said the car veered toward the children in what appeared to be an attempted hit-and-run. Mrs Rasha An-Natsha said the girls ran out of harms way in time and were unhurt.

The teacher brought the incident t the attention of the region's ministry of education superintendent Mohammad Al-Hawwash, who said he was deeply concerned about the safety of students in the area.

In the same area Thursday morning, Israeli Civil Administration officials were handing out home demolition orders. Locals said they had witnessed a large number of Israeli security patrols in the area in recent weeks.

Recently appointed Hebron Governor Kamil Hamid was visiting Wednesday the homes of locals who face constant settler harassment, when a mob of settlers surrounded the home he was in shouting "terrorist," preventing the delegation from leaving the area.

Israeli police operating in the neighborhood reportedly interfered when a fight broke out between settlers and members of the governor's delegation, but the governor complained when the police failed to evacuate the settlers from outside the home.

For three hours, settlers remained outside the home of Jamil Abu Hekal, who lives in the Tel Rumeida area where a handful of settler families moved into homes and set up trailers in empty lots.

Angered at the failure of the police to remove the settlers, Governor Hamid said the officers "might as well go home and let the settlers take control," adding that the mob clearly already had the upper hand on the soldiers.

Officials said that after three hours, Israeli military forces forced the settlers to leave the area, and cleared safe passage for the governor and his delegation.

Hamid said that he had cleared his visit with Israeli police earlier in the week, and that soldiers patrolling the area had allowed the delegation into the area in the first place.

His delegation included Red Crescent workers and local officials.

The Israeli news site Ynet reported a clash between the governor and local settlers, including Israeli politician and Jewish National Front party leader Baruch Marzel. The report said Israeli security forces dispersed the rioters and the governor continued on his tour.

An Israeli military spokesman said soldiers dispersed clashes between Israeli and Palestinian civilians.

Dozens of Jewish settlers attacked the home of a Palestinian citizen in Qasra village, south of Nablus, on Monday and slaughtered two of his sheep, villagers reported.

They said that the settlers attacked Sayel Hassan's house before fleeing the village, recalling that settlers killed a number of sheep heads in the same village and tried to assault the shepherd but he managed to escape.

Meanwhile, settlers from Revava settlement continued to plough land of the Palestinian village of Deir Estiye, Salfit district.

Local sources said that the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) arrested five of the landowners including the local council chief Nazmi Salman at the pretext of taking photos in a military zone.

They were documenting the incident, locals said, adding that the IOF soldiers confiscated their cameras and detained them for a few hours before releasing them.

Salman said the soldiers prevented them from approaching their land, which is threatened with confiscation, and warned them against trying to come near it again.

He said that the settlers bulldozed around 100 dunums in the vicinity of Revava settlement, adding that all the targeted area belongs to his village.

In Burin village, south of Nablus, Jewish settlers on Sunday surrounded a house in the village's outskirts and threatened those inside.

Local sources said that tens of settlers attacked the home of Um Ayman for the third consecutive time and tried to break into it. She started to scream and her neighbors rushed to help her prompting the settlers to flee.

They said that IOF soldiers, who were monitoring the event, intercepted citizens who were trying to reach the house and confiscated their IDs.

For their part, the IOF soldiers stormed the village of Housan, in Bethlehem, on Sunday night at the pretext of searching for youths who were stoning settlers' vehicles on the main road near to the village.

Eyewitnesses said that soldiers in five army jeeps burst into the village and the soldiers broke into many houses and gathered the village's youths in a public square for many hours under the rain and cold weather.